Last week, the national Focus on the Family opened a referendum account with the Wisconsin State Elections Board, suggesting the group is preparing to dump significant resources into the fight over the civil unions and marriage ban.
"On our side we have thousands of volunteers giving their time and money, while apparently our opposition has James Dobson and his millions," said Fair Wisconsin campaign manager Mike Tate. “The direct involvement of Focus on the Family makes it more clear that the constitutional ban is part of a top-down, nationwide strategy--not something that grew out of grassroots support here."
Based in Colorado Springs, Focus on the Family is the largest international socially conservative religious group in the country. It was founded by James Dobson in 1977. In recent years, Dobson made headlines by saying cartoon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants are a form of "homosexual propaganda." Dobson also believes men have the divine right to lead their families, and women have the divine obligation to submit to their authority.
According to a report from the Institute on Money in State Politics, Focus on the Family created ballot measure committees to raise and spend money in seven of the 13 states with marriage/civil unions amendments on the ballot in 2004. The Rocky Mountain News reported last week that the organization has so far contributed over $700,000 to this year's Colorado amendment fight.
Affiliated with groups like the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defense Fund, Focus on the Family leadership also runs Focus on the Family Action, a 501(c)(4) organization that spent over $130 million in the 2004 election cycle.
The Family Research Institute of Wisconsin, one of the lead groups supporting the ban, is “officially associated with Focus on the Family as a state family policy council,” according to the group’s website. Yet the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin has already filed its own referendum committee, Vote Yes on Marriage.
"James Dobson and Focus on the Family do not represent the mainstream. They do not represent Wisconsin," said Tate. "Fair Wisconsin will continue to talk to hundreds of thousands of voters about how the ban will hurt their friends and neighbors, and Wisconsin voters will reject the ban in November."
Fair Wisconsin has over 8000 volunteers, nearly 30 local organizing committees, and over 1600 trained speakers. The organization also has the support of former governors, labor unions, business leaders, former presidents of the Bar Association, and hundreds of thousands of people of faith.
Fair Wisconsin’s most recent filing report showed over 5000 individual donors, over 90% of which were from in the state.
The last thing Wisconsin needs is a bunch of religious crazies. We have plenty of our own.
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